KABUL, Afghanistan -- Taliban fighters took control of Kabul on Sunday as the Afghan government collapsed, President Ashraf Ghani fled, and the long-dominant American presence appeared to be coming to an abrupt and chaotic end after nearly 20 years, with tens of thousands of people trying to escape.
The takeover of the sprawling capital city had been years in the making, but was ultimately accomplished in a single day. Insurgent fighters, fresh off their conquests in each of Afghanistan's provincial hubs, faced little to no resistance as they entered the city Sunday morning.
By evening, the Taliban were giving television interviews in the presidential palace, just hours after Ghani had departed Afghanistan. And the Pentagon was speeding an additional 1,000 troops to Kabul's airport to assist with the withdrawal of U.S. personnel after the American flag was lowered from the embassy.
U.S. personnel at the embassy in Afghanistan were being relocated to the airport to "ensure they can operate safely and securely" as the Taliban encircled Kabul, Secretary of State Antony Blinken told ABC News on Sunday. Acting U.S. ambassador Ross Wilson was among those moved to the airport amid a frenzied rush for flights out of the country.
Ghani did not appear publicly Sunday. But on his Facebook page, he posted a message explaining that the Taliban had given him no choice but to depart the country. "In order to avoid a flood of blood, I thought it was best to get out," he said.
Lead Afghan negotiator and Ghani rival Abdullah Abdullah announced the formation of a new "coordination council" with former President Hamid Karzai and former jihadi leader-turned-politician Gulbuddin Hekmatyar to deal directly with the Taliban in Kabul. Its purpose, Karzai said on Twitter, is to "prevent chaos ... and to better manage the affairs related to peace and the peaceful transfer" of power.
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The Taliban has not responded publicly to the group, but U.S. officials assume that the militants are equally interested in preventing violence as they consolidate their control. There is no sense among those officials that a power-sharing government is being discussed. Rather, the Taliban were expected to set the terms and the council would facilitate its nonviolent takeover.
The Taliban's lead negotiator in talks with the government, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, congratulated all of Afghanistan for the victory. "Now it will be shown how we can serve our nation," he said. "We can assure that our nation has a peaceful life and a better future."
"There was no expectation that we would achieve victory in this war," he said. "But this came with the help of Allah, therefore we should be thankful to Him, be humble in front of Him, so that we do not act arrogantly."
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U.S. FLAG LOWERED
Taliban fighters fanned out across the capital, and several entered Kabul's abandoned presidential palace. Suhail Shaheen, a Taliban spokesman and negotiator, told The Associated Press that the militants would hold talks in the coming days aimed at forming an "open, inclusive Islamic government."
Al-Jazeera reported that it had interviewed Taliban fighters in the presidential palace who said they were working to secure Kabul so that leaders in Qatar and elsewhere could return safely.
Earlier, a Taliban official said the group would announce from the palace the restoration of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, the formal name of the country under Taliban rule before the militants were ousted by U.S.-led forces in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, which were orchestrated by al-Qaida while it was being sheltered by the Taliban. But that plan appeared to be on hold.
Kabul was gripped by panic. Helicopters raced overhead throughout the day to evacuate personnel from the U.S. Embassy. Smoke rose near the compound as staff destroyed important documents, and the American flag was lowered. Several other Western missions also prepared to pull their people out.
Afghans rushed to leave the country, lining up at cash machines to withdraw their life savings. The desperately poor -- who had left homes in the countryside for the presumed safety of the capital -- remained in parks and open spaces throughout the city.
The U.S. Embassy warned Americans to not head to the airport in Kabul after reports that the facility was taking fire and said that the situation was "changing quickly."
Commercial flights were suspended after sporadic gunfire erupted at the Kabul airport, according to two senior U.S. military officials. Evacuations continued on military flights, but the halt to commercial traffic closed off one of the last routes available for fleeing Afghans.
Many people watched in disbelief as helicopters landed in the U.S. Embassy compound to take diplomats to a new outpost at the airport. Blinken rejected comparisons to the U.S. pullout from Vietnam.
"This is manifestly not Saigon," he said on ABC's "This Week."
Those being evacuated included a core group of American diplomats who had planned to remain at the embassy in Kabul, according to a senior administration official. They were being moved to a compound at the international airport, where they would stay for an unspecified amount of time, the official said.
Wilson, the American ambassador, wanted to return to the embassy, but it was not clear if he would be allowed to. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing operations.
Convoys of armored vehicles raced to find safety in the headquarters of what had been the NATO center for its Operation Resolute Support. Others flocked to the Serena Hotel, a heavily fortified hotel popular among foreigners.
The airport was filled with military personnel in uniforms from many different nations. They joined contractors, diplomats and civilians all trying to catch a flight out of the city. Those who were eligible to fly were given special bracelets, denoting their status as noncombatants.
On the civilian side of the airport, a long line of people waited outside the check-in gate, unsure if the flights they had booked out of the country would arrive.
For millions of Afghans, including tens of thousands who assisted the U.S. efforts in the country for years, there were no bracelets. They were stuck in the city.
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At the NATO center, military personnel handed out matchbox-size cardboard containers with ear plugs and corralled people onto the helicopters. As the aircraft took off for the international airport, dozens of people evacuating got their last glimpses of the capital below.
Two Marines, standing by the runway at the Kabul airport, acknowledged that they were living a moment of history. A little earlier, they said, someone walked by after exiting one of the helicopters cradling a poorly folded American flag; it had just come down off the embassy.
GHANI FLEES
As the insurgents closed in, Ghani flew out of the country. He had been set to travel to Doha on Sunday with a larger group to negotiate the transfer of power.
Ghani later posted on Facebook that he left to avert bloodshed in the capital, without saying where he had gone.
"Today I was presented with a hard choice," he wrote. "I should stand to face the armed Taliban who wanted to enter the presidential palace or leave the dear country that I dedicated my life to protecting the past twenty years."
Ghani left Kabul in a plane with his wife, Rula Ghani, and two close aides, and had arrived in Uzbekistan, according to a member of the Afghan delegation in Doha. The official asked not to be named because he did not want to be identified speaking about the president's movements.
It could not be confirmed that Ghani was in Uzbekistan, and there were reports that he had gone to other countries.
"If I had stayed, countless countrymen would have been martyred and Kabul city would have been ruined," he added, "in which case a disaster would have been brought upon this city of five million."
In a Facebook video, Abdullah criticized Ghani for fleeing.
"That the former president of Afghanistan has left the country and its people in this bad situation -- God will call him to account, and the people of Afghanistan will make their judgment," Abdullah said in the video.
Ghani had resisted pressure to step down. In a recorded speech aired Saturday, he pledged to "prevent further instability" and called for "remobilizing" the country's military.
Afghanistan's acting defense minister, Bismillah Khan Mohammadi, did not hold back his criticism of the fleeing president.
"They tied our hands from behind and sold the country," he wrote on Twitter. "Curse Ghani and his gang."
TALIBAN DEPLOYS
As night fell, Taliban fighters deployed across Kabul, taking over abandoned police posts and pledging to maintain law and order during the transition.
"The Islamic Emirates ordered its forces to enter the areas of Kabul city from which the enemy has left because there is risk of theft and robbery," a Twitter statement from Zabiullah Mujahid, the Taliban spokesperson, said. The Taliban had been ordered not to harm civilians and not to enter individual homes, it added. "Our forces are entering Kabul city with all caution."
Residents reported looting in parts of the city, including in the upscale diplomatic district, and messages circulating on social media advised people to stay inside and lock their gates.
The Taliban earlier insisted that their fighters would not enter people's homes or interfere with businesses and said they would offer "amnesty" to those who worked with the Afghan government or foreign forces.
But there have been reports of revenge killings and other brutal tactics in areas of the country the Taliban have seized in recent days. Reports of gunfire at the airport raised the specter of more violence. One female journalist, weeping, sent voice messages to colleagues after armed men entered her apartment building and banged on her door.
"What should I do? Should I call the police or Taliban?" Getee Azami cried. It wasn't clear what happened to her after that.
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An Afghan university student described feeling betrayed as she watched the evacuation of the U.S. Embassy.
"You failed the younger generation of Afghanistan," said Aisha Khurram, 22, who is now unsure of whether she will be able to graduate in two months. She said her generation was "hoping to build the country with their own hands. They put blood, efforts and sweat into whatever we had right now."
RAPID FALL
In a stunning rout, the Taliban seized nearly all of Afghanistan in just over a week, despite the billions of dollars spent by the U.S. and NATO over nearly 20 years to build up Afghan security forces. Just days earlier, an American military assessment estimated that the capital would not come under insurgent pressure for a month.
Sunday began with the Taliban seizing Jalalabad, the last major city besides the capital not in their hands. Afghan officials said the militants also took the capitals of Maidan Wardak, Khost, Kapisa and Parwan provinces, as well as the country's last government-held border post.
Later, Afghan forces at Bagram Air Base, home to a prison housing 5,000 inmates, surrendered to the Taliban, according to Bagram district chief Darwaish Raufi. The prison at the former U.S. base held both Taliban and Islamic State group fighters.
The Taliban also took control of Afghanistan's largest prison, known as Pul-e-Charkhi, CNN reported, citing two unnamed Taliban sources. Up to 5,000 inmates may have been housed at the infamous prison east of Kabul, according to CNN.
Footage from an Afghan news agency on Sunday appeared to show Taliban militants letting inmates out of the prison, the BBC reported.
The fall of Kabul marks the final chapter of America's longest war, which began after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. A U.S.-led invasion dislodged the Taliban and beat them back, but America lost focus on the conflict in the chaos of the Iraq war.
For years, the U.S. sought an exit from Afghanistan. Then-President Donald Trump signed a deal with the Taliban in February 2020 that limited direct military action against the insurgents. That allowed the fighters to gather strength and move quickly to seize key areas when President Joe Biden announced his plans to withdraw all American forces by the end of this month.
Information for this article was contributed by Ahmad Seir, Rahim Faiez, Tameem Akhgar, Jon Gambrell, Kathy Gannon, Joseph Krauss, Matthew Lee, James LaPorta, Aya Batrawy and Frank Jordans of The Associated Press; by multiple writers from The New York Times and by Susannah George, Bryan Pietsch, Claire Parker, John Hudson, Karen DeYoung, Dan Lamothe and Missy Ryan of The Washington Post.
